


I Miss Manhattan, Man

by probsnothawkeye



Category: Polygon/McElroy Vlogs & Podcasts RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Memory Loss, Oh boy where to start, One Shot, Um what else, but i guess you could read it as platonic if you wanted to, but like light angst, it was 1:30 in the morning when I started writing this, probably a bit OOC, their relationship is very heavily implied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:07:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24836635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/probsnothawkeye/pseuds/probsnothawkeye
Summary: "This Manhattan man said 'I miss Manhattan, man. And if you don't understand, that's fine with me'." -The AltogetherOrBurger Chainz didn't pull the name Manhattan Gamestop out of nowhere. In fact, he pulled it out of his heart.
Relationships: Vang0 Bang0/Burger Chainz
Comments: 11
Kudos: 43





	I Miss Manhattan, Man

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello!
> 
> So I saw a tumblr post from bath-tub-up-you-up saying "This Manhattan Man is about Manhattan Gamestop", twisted it a little bit and then this 1000 word monstrosity came out.  
> I've never written for this before and it's almost 2 in the morning at the time of me posting this so you will have to excuse me on this one.  
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Title taken from This Manhattan Man by The Altogether

Burger Chainz didn't pull the name Manhattan Gamestop out of nowhere, despite what his companions might have thought. In fact, he pulled it from somewhere very personal to him.

Burger had met Manhattan not long after the farming commune got shut down and he had to move to Night City. Manhattan had been working in a warehouse that Burger was making a delivery for and they hit it off. Soon, Manhattan was spending more time in Burger's van than he was anywhere else. In all his years, Burger had never met someone he clicked with so well. It also helped that Manhattan was tech savvy and was able to find good jobs for both Burger and himself.

One of those jobs took Manhattan away from Burger.

Usually they did jobs together, but these two jobs that overlapped paid too well to pass up. Both had worked on their own before, so it didn't seem like a bad idea to split up and get that money. Burger Chainz finished his work smoothly and quickly, returning to the apartment he and Manhattan had started to rent after they started getting jobs more regularly. He played around on his agent, scrolling through websites and job listings, and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

After a day of waiting, Burger Chainz started searching.

And searching.

And searching.

After two weeks of non-stop searching, Burger Chainz accepted that Manhattan Gamestop was just gone.

He ended the lease on the apartment, choosing to live in his van again. Started running more jobs for Hypo, causing him to meet one Dapper Dasha. She was no Manhattan Gamestop, but she was a good friend and partner for jobs.

And for the next few years, this was the life Burger lived. Jobs with Dasha, living in his van, forcing himself to forget about Manhattan Gamestop.

Then Vang0 Bang0 entered the mix.

A streamer and forum moderator for a website Burger hadn't even heard of. Vang0 didn't seem to know much about it either, "I just woke up in front of it. No memories."

"That's rough, buddy," Burger said empathetically as he could. "Maybe they'll come back someday."

"Yeah, maybe," Vang0 replied, voice sounding wistful and a bit bitter.

Soon Vang0 Bang0 was spending more time in Burger's van and Burger more time in Vang0's apartment. Burger helped Vang0 stream and Vang0 helped Burger connect with people again. They started running jobs together, often with Dasha, melding in a way that felt so familiar to Burger Chainz. 

After the whole endeavor with the M House, in a bit of downtime that Burger and Vang0 were spending together, Burger finally brought it up. "I miss Manhattan, man."

"Manhattan Gamestop? The fake name you gave yourself?" Vang0 asked, not looking up from his agent. "You miss a fake name?"

"No, I- He was a person."

This caused Vang0 to look up at his friend. "What?"

Burger Chainz sighed, looking down at his reflection in the glass table in Vang0's apartment. "Manhattan Gamestop was a person. Maybe he still is, I don't know. He was my partner, ran jobs with me for a while after I moved to Night City. When it seemed like we were doing fake names, well… it just felt right to use his."

"And you miss him?" Vang0 asked, not in the usual cutting way Vang0 asked questions, but in a soft tone Burger hadn't heard him use before.

"If you don't understand, that's fine with me," Burger started, trying to figure out how to best address the issue. "But if I could see him again, I'd scream 'MANHATTAN!' And I think… well I think things would be a bit better."

Vang0 opened his mouth and then closed it again, unsure of what to say. Finally, he settled on "What happened to him?"

"We took separate jobs for once, wanting to make some extra money. I came back from mine, he didn't. This was probably a year or so before I met you and a month before I met Dasha. I looked for him, but could never find him."

In a rare act of selflessness, Vang0 scooted closer to Burger Chainz and asked "Tell me about him?"

And Burger did.

He talked for hours about the adventures he had had with Manhattan Gamestop. About the jobs that ended in disaster and the ones that ended in triumph. About the days in between, where the two would just exist together. By the time he was done, Burger was crying. Vang0 was too, a little bit.

"I miss Manhattan, man," Burger said again, wiping away his tears. "If I could do it all again… I would do it all here, in the city, with him. I just wish I could find him, or at least find out what happened to him."

Vang0 had been oddly silent as Burger told his tales, the only sounds coming from him being small sniffles as the two had started crying. "Hey, Burger?"

"Yeah, Vang0?"

"I think you found him."

Burger turned his head to focus more intensely on Vang0. For the first time in their friendship, he allowed himself to examine Vang0 more closely. While his hair and mustache and clothes were so different from Manhattan's, it was looking into Vang0's eyes that drew Burger in.

Those were Manhattan's eyes.

"I don't remember everything," Vang0,  _ Manhattan, _ said. "But as you were telling your stories, our stories, I started getting some of it back. I remembered the early days in the van, the apartment, meeting you at the warehouse. It's fuzzy, but it's there.  _ You're  _ there, in my memories."

Tears started to well up in Burger's eyes yet again. "I can't believe I finally found you." Burger Chainz couldn't stop looking at Vang0's eyes, the eyes of a man Burger thought he had lost forever.

"I don't know if I can ever be Manhattan Gamestop again," Vang0 said cautiously. "So much of that life is still so fuzzy to me."

Burger leaned over and pulled Vang0 into a tight hug. "I care about Vang0 Bang0 just as much as I care about Manhattan Gamestop. I'm just glad to know that you're still here, whoever you choose to be."

Vang0 squeezed Burger Chainz, hiding his face in Burger's shoulders. The feeling was familiar.

It was like coming home.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments and kudos are always appreciated but never required. Come hang out with me on [tumblr!](https://ireallyneedabetterusername.tumblr.com/) My blog is a mess but it's sometimes a fun mess. Plus my inbox is always open and I am always looking for prompts.


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